Terminal Velocity
by Gremmie
Summary: Ochako Uraraka can no longer earn the title of hero; now, she must seize it for herself. Her parents are dead. The little she had left in her life was dashed away in the course of just a few minutes. Devastated, she struggles to pick up the pieces. Plummeting from the tower of grief and tragedy she sealed herself in, Ochako reaches terminal velocity towards a heroic future.
1. foreword

Though this fanfiction is based in the series Boku No Hero Academia (My Hero Academia), the setting around the characters is not necessarily consistent with modern Japan or the series' depiction of modern Japan. The idea of heroes and villains, of quirks and superpowered education is there, but the physical setting and the topics grappled with are closer to my experiences in the United States, and, more specifically, in New York City.

That being said, credit for the characters and some of the ideas goes to Kōhei Horikoshi. I encourage readers who may be interested in his work to check it out, and, if you really like it, spend some money to support him and his team.

Enjoy!


	2. one

Ochako Uraraka begins her day by donating to the homeless. In particular, there is an elderly man who lives two blocks down by a lamp post. At least, it seems like he lives there since she passes by him every morning, and sees him napping there when she doesn't stay late after school. She donates not only money, but time and attention. He has seen her since she was a little girl, and over time, they have had a number of conversations with each other. Aside keeping him up to date with her heroic aspirations, they talk about sports, the world as she learns about it in school, how things are going in general, and how their days have been. She has shared meals with him, walks with him, and countless stories. This morning, like usual, she spares some time, then goes on her way.

"MY KIDS WON'T EAT TONIGHT BECAUSE OF YOU DAMN KIDS. MY DAUGHTER'LL CRY STARVIN' IN HER CRIB AND-" a cop car's door slams, interrupting the perp's protest.

Ochako removes her helmet, and wipes sweat off her brow. She wishes a bank robbery wouldn't occur on such a hot day, or that this task wouldn't have been assigned to her and her friends. She glances over to a group of students enjoying cold drinks courtesy of teachers.

"Y'know. Maybe I shoulda blown those assholes away just for makin' us work in this swelterin' heat." Such violence in casual conversation. The student talking practically drowns himself in water.

"Ochako! Are you alright?" Izuku Midoriya approaches. He is bruised from a scuffle with a robber and saving a pedestrian from a stray bullet, but he is otherwise fine.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good!" She blushes with a smile. Even hurt and tired, Izuku is adorable. Though, it is hard to focus on him with how uncomfortable the drop of sweat rolling down her spine feels. She needs to consult the professors about getting a different suit fabric because the black color just made things worse despite looking cute. "Are you doing alright? I almost had a heart attack when I saw you dodge a bullet, literally."

"Yeah, I got small scratch but it was nothing hard to patch up." He glances at the white squares adhered against his skin and torn costume. She hopes there is not anything too severe beneath those bandages.

"Deku, Uravity." Eraserhead, Shoto Aizawa, approaches. Their teacher had two flyers in his hands, offering them to the students. "Good work today, and throughout this messy week. Some pros have noticed your hardwork, so, to celebrate, Yu Takeyama's hosting a gathering for the students at a club downtown."

"Uh, Mr. Aizawa, is formal wear really required? I think I tore through my last pieces with my quirk because bad guys happened to crash the party." Asks another student, scratching the back of his head with an embarrassed smile.

The teacher sighs. "I'll help you purchase some new clothes. I'm taking Hitoshi with me anyway since he needs some. Come on." He beckons the student to follow, leaving Ochako and Izuku alone again.

"Jeez...this is kinda far from home. I'll have to leave right now if I want to shower and be ready in time. I'll see ya later, Ochako!" Izuku waves at her as he walks away.

She waves back. "See ya, Izuku!"

She scans the flyer quickly. She has a few outfits she can put together. Not much variety to her wardrobe in this regard, because of the costs, but just enough. Come to think of it, her mother gave her a bit of money for some new shoes-

"Great work, Ochako." A voice compliments from behind. Ochako turns around to look up at Momo Yaoyorozu. "Everything might've gone sideways if it wasn't for your quick thinking." She smiles.

"Yeah, I guess..." Ochako thinks back to how she redirected a gas grenade Momo created by using her gravity quirk. The canister sailed right into the second floor window despite Momo's bad throw. "It was nothing though — you're the one who got the idea of using the smoke in the first place!"

"We both did well. Are you going to attend Mt. Lady's gathering tonight?" She inquires.

"Yeah, I'll be there. I'm gonna buy new shoes for the occasion, actually." Why did she feel a need to say that to a rich girl like Momo?

"Oh! Let me help you, then! I'm out to buy about three from downtown!" And that's exactly why Ochako didn't have to say that to Momo. The gravity girl's just glad to at least understand Momo comes off snobby by accident, and that she's more down-to-earth than she initially lets on.

"Uh, sure, I'll join you!" Ochako replies. "We should get going soon though, if we want to be at the party with enough time to shower and all. Today was a sweaty nightmare."

"I feel you. My chauffeur'll be here soon."


	3. two

"Ready to pay?" Momo asks, a store assistant carrying much more than just three boxes of shoes beside her. Ochako has one measly box. Some of the color was chipped off the edges, revealing cardboard. On top of the lid, there is a big, red sticker yelling "_SALE!"._

"Aha, ready when you are!" Ochako is visibly embarrassed, but Momo just smiles and leads the way to a cashier.

The pair make an entrance at the club using one of Momo's limos. Only a section of the club was bought by Mt. Lady, and the rest is still open to the public, so there is a lengthy line stretching around the corner because of how many people want a glance at the heroes. There is plenty of attention on the girls when they arrive at the scene. Embarrassed at all the eyes admiring her sparkling, black, night sky dress and her matching shoes, Ochako tries to stick close to Momo's more confident stride. The wealthier of the two has no problem walking down the red carpet in the red dress styled similarly to her hero costume, the fabric parting halfway up her belly to form a deep V. Ochako keeps her eyes on either Momo's back or the entrance to the club, so she doesn't notice any gestures from the other heroes as they call for group pictures. Momo did, though, unfortunately.

She goes over to Shouto Todoroki, whose father wants a picture with the three of them. Ochako unwittingly follows her partner over to the group. Despite how mousy she feels, the Todorokis easily spot her practically clinging to Momo.

"Ochako, are you alright? You're acting weird." Shouto observes. Her flushed face beomed more obvious than it already is, and it doesn't help that the cameras are flashing upon her tomato cheeks.

"I...uh, I'm fine! I'm totally fine, Shouto." She takes a few deep breaths.

"You're welcome to take a picture with us..." Shouto casts a glance up towards his father. The hulking man frowns, though it isn't like he was particularly happy anyway. "...if you'd like." he finishes, looking at Ochako.

The girl is stuck between the anxiety of refusal and the feeling of being a nuisance. Ultimately, she gives into the former. She would rather stick beside Momo than get stranded across the vast scarlet expanse, bordering with media sharks, between where she is now and the club doors. "Su-Sure! I'm up for a picture!" She exclaims, trying to get rid of any anxiety in her voice for fear of sounding reluctant.

"You're awfully jittery tonight, Ochako. Are you sure you're fine?" Momo inquires as they enter the club. Ochako feels a great weight release from her shoulders. Something about the absence of cameras in her face and the sight of only familiar faces make her relax immensely.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. It was...just a little chilly out there, is all." She tries to assure Momo, who just nods in response. "Let's head over to the bar." Ochako can use some water to ground her after all of that.

Tired from the day's work, and not in much of a mood to party, Ochako stays at the bar, even when Momo drifts away every now and again. Her mind is partly asleep, partly occupied with the homeless man, and barely present at the club. On her way home after shopping earlier, she told the man that she would say good night before she left, and donate some more money. Though modesty compelled him to refuse her generosity, she insisted on the basis of being too poor to afford anything crazy at the club, let alone only going to show her face and nothing more; purchases were the last thing on her mind. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to speak to the man on her way out the house. Momo had arrived late to her place, so it was a rush to get into the limo. Ochako also forgot to charge her phone before she left, so she wouldn't even know if he has been calling her somehow. The thought made her worry more, and she wonders what he was up to.

"Uraraka! Or, should I say,_ Uravity." _The gathering's hostess, Yu Takeyama, Mt. Lady, stands in front of Ochako now. She wears a luxuriously loose, and long dress with colors which matches her usual hero costume. A fancy headpiece is weaved into her hair, a pair of glittering, regal, curving horns, and her dress bears an orange dragon snaking around her body.

"Ochako's fine, Ms. Takeyama. I love the headpiece!" Ochako admired the amazing accessory, though wonders for a moment if it is uncomfortable or not. It doesn't take her long to assume that a woman who wears horns everyday for work would have no problem flaunting them at a party. It is so pretty, and it makes Ochako want to have a pair of her own.

"You don't seem to be enjoying yourself all that much, Ochako. Is something wrong?"

"Ah, no...nothing in particular, just thinking about a friend..."

"Oooh, there a boy you like? Is he dancin' with the wrong girl?" Her teasing makes Ochako beet red. Her mind immediately travels from the homeless man to Izuku, and though she sneaks a peek around to check on him, she fiercely expresses denial.

"It's not like that! No! Uh, it's just a friend from my 's- He's going through a rough time, so, I'm just a bit worried..."

"A hero through and through, huh." Yu is impressed. She would not have been able to take her eyes off the fame and wealth of her job no matter how good-hearted she was. "I guess Stain's schtick struck a chord with you, then." She assumes. Despite connecting a young, up-and-coming hero with a notorious villain, her tone has no sense of suspicion or fear in it. She understands the appeal in Stain's ideals.

"Ah, no! No!" Ochako defends herself. Yu's anxiety-inducing celebrity attention doesn't let Ochako analyze the pro hero's words deeper, so she is stuck on the implication her words might've meant. "I'd never have anything in common with a creep like him, as if I could even afford to!" She rattles out in a nervous passion. She does not even realize what she admits.

Yu notices some of the more fortunate invitees giving them funny looks. Considering how on-edge Ochako already is, she is glad that she is more caught up in denial than in her surroundings. She calls the bartender over.

"A water for the young lady and a rum and coke for me." She orders, and the drinks come not a moment later. She looks behind her, towards the stairs leading up the building, and then returns her attention to Ochako. "Hey, there's a balcony to the club on the third floor. You look like you could use some fresh air. Wanna come?"

If it is not one thing, it is the other which embarrases her. Ochako puts aside the thousands of thoughts running circles in her head about what she said, what I said, how I said it, how she said it, how he's doing, who I am, how I am, where I am, who she is, where we are, how we are, and let out a meek "Yes" with a nod. With so many things going on inside her and around her, her head feels like it's up in the clouds, dizzy, and not as level as usual. Some respite from the suffocatingly prestigious environment would be a blessing from above.


	4. three

"So, you can't afford to, huh?" Yu begins after a few minutes on the balcony. Ochako nearly spirs out her water as she drinks it. Her eyes are wide open and focused across the metropolitan landscape of a few blocks, the valley of the city.

"I...I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. I'm not into him at all." She establishes decidedly.

"Ooh..." Yu takes her gaze away from Ochako, and observes the streets below. "No need to hide the fact that you're broke though. I was once too." She admits. What a way to set off Ochako. The girl gives the woman laser beams.

"It's not just about being broke." She snaps, trying not to raise her voice.

"Oh, I know. It's about your parents being broke." She says, surprising the student. "It's about their parents being broke too." Ochako looks away from the city and towards the lady. "It's about your hood being broke, everybody and their mom being broke, the stores around the corners closing down and popping up because of people being broke at different times..." Yu lets her ice cubes make rounds in the rum before she finishes it off. "It isn't just about you being broke. And, it seems like you know all about that."

Ochako is happy. The topic is certainly depressing, but at least she finally has someone to relate to, or someone who is aware of her position. She did not expect it to come from a pro-hero; she thought they all came from families that were at least financially stable. But, apparently not. For better or for worse, she is thankful. "I do. I do know about it. The guy I talked about is a homeless man I'm friends with. I give him money sometimes, and when I can't, I give him time. Because sometimes people have less time than money."

"You sure you wanna be a hero? You sound more like a sociologist, or a geographer." Yu giggles.

"Aren't those guys heroes too, basically? Well, the good ones anyway."

"You're right, you're right. Hey, if you're not feeling this venue we can head out early. The club knows to kick everyone out by a certain time, so I don't need to be here. It can just be us poor girls being rich for a night." Yu offers with an anticipating grin. Before Ochako can answer though, Momo chimes up.

"Hey! Ochako! O-oh! Mt. Lady...sorry if I was interrupting anything." She apologizes.

"Oh no! Don't worry about it. Me and Uravity were just having a bit of a chat. Call me Yu, by the way. How's the party been, Yaoyorozu?"

"It's been great, Mt. Lad- I mean, Yu. It's been great. Your dress is so pretty!" She compliments, admiring how good it especially looks in the city lights.

"Thanks. You girls are stunning too. I'm flattered you dressed so well for my event. Speaking of, though, Ochako, are you down?"

"Uh..." She looks between Momo and Yu, torn between staying or leaving.

"Down for...?" Momo asks.

"Getting out of here and having a girls' night out." Answers Yu.

"Oh! May I join, if that's not too much trouble. I can't catch a break with all these high class guys trying to hit on me, and their dads wanting to take pictures." She sighs.

"Well, may she, Ochako?" Yu asks, and now both of them are looking at her expectantly.

"Ah..."


	5. four

The taxi is packed, to say the least. Besides the many bags crammed into the trunk, the front seat is occupied with brand-name luggage as well. The girls are smushed up against each other and their purchases in the backseat, and they had fortunately bought a more expensive ride or else they would practically be spilling out the doors. The highway lights illuminate their faces every now and then as the driver heads for Ochako's place. Energy spent, they are happy and drowsy. Momo looks down at Ochako, whose head rests on her shoulder. Her eyes stare blankly forward and are hardly open. Yu is looking out the window, at the other side of Ochako. Momo watches a neighborhood go by.

"I can't remember the last time I took public transportation." She admits. Yu snorts.

"Where we come from, this is as private as it'll get for us unless we make it big." She replies.

"I'm just glad this one isn't dirty." Ochako sighs.

"Told you the Deluxe was great." Yu pokes Ochako's side, making her giggle a bit. "And you wanted the Basic ride, with the risk of getting some kid's vomit where you're sitting right now."

"Hey! That doesn't happen all the time! Some Basic drivers care about their cars!" Ochako protests.

"To think that's even a concern...I just..." Momo tenses up. The words don't want to leave her lips.

"Just what?" Ochako asks in a half-whisper, looking up.

"Just..." Momo takes a breath, then closes her eyes. "My family cloisters me in all this luxury. I'm half-convinced they don't want me to see how most people live." She meets Ochako's gaze, and then Yu's. "I wish I could relate to you both more."

Yu rolls her eyes. "Don't," she chuckles. "Your pity and guilt is the last thing we need. It's not your fault, Momo."

"I'm taking the freshman Geography class, and I learned that the children of the wealthy don't carry a lot of the fault when it comes to how things are. You guys didn't choose to be rich." Ochako explains.

The car is silent for a few moments as Momo processes her emotions. She is also processing the fact that she even had to process them to begin with. Despite how cramped things are, it begins to feel like it's because of all the space her high-class self-guilt is taking up as more and more of it spills from Louis Vuitton tag from the bag on her lap doesn't help deconstruct this.

"I shouldn't have spoke," she wants to say, but they roll up to Ochako's place faster than expected. Yu opens the door, and the fresh air rushes in to replace the stench of body odor, stale fragrances, and new fabric.

"It's like I've been born again, lord." Yu eagerly leaps out of the taxi, stretched out to enjoy the outside, and almost forgets about everything else. It is only when Ochako starts to take out bags two per arm that she shrinks back down to reality.

"Let us handle all this stuff, Ochako." Momo offers. "Go inside and let your parents know you're home. I remember how paranoid they get."

"Thanks so much!" Ochako makes her way towards her front door once Momo took the heavy load from her hands and arms and shoulders. She lives in a government-subsidized neighborhood, so her house is not as glamorous as a suburban home, but at least it gives her a roof over her head, a place to store and make food, and a room for her to live in. The transition from the taxi full of luxuries and attractive, rich women to her humble abode reminds her of why she needed to become a hero for her parents and for herself. Aside giving them all a more comfortable life, she, too, would like a bit of the pleasures that higher tax brackets can afford. For now, though, this little house would have to-

A gunshot lights up the inside of the house, the windows flashing from the weapon's explosion. Ochako freezes. Her blood runs cold. Fear roots her. The front door swings open and a woman runs out of the house, screaming for her life, crying hysterically. It is her mother, and her yells snap Ochako back into the moment.

"OCHAKO! OCHAKO RUN! RU-" shots puncture her back just as she meets her daughter, her daughter holding her, trying to understand what is going on. The mother collapses, her full weight bringing Ochako to her knees as she slumps on the pavement.

"MOM! MOM!" Her back is wet, her nightgown is soaked through, black as opposed to its usual white. The street's lamp light reveals the true, dark red stains. Her hands have these as well. She tries to wipe them off, wipe away the reality of the situation, wipe away the moment, but the blood marks her deep and permanently, it spreads, it drowns, it obscures her flesh.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU." Yells another voice from inside the house. Ochako's attention snaps up, and for a moment, she sees the horrified expression on the face of her mother's murderer. He grips his gun as tight as he grips the half-ripped bag of stolen jewelry, food, and fabrics.

"You...H-How could..." they both remember the many conversations on the corner. They both remember their long history. They have seen each other since she was a little girl. They have talked about how things are going in general, and how their days have been. They have shared meals, walks, and countless stories. They share tears and pain.

Ochako's father comes running out of the house with a butcher's knife over his head. "FUCKING DIE," the blade finds the side of the homeless man's throat. The rest of his magazine finds the guts of Ochako's father. He slumps over and the homeless man runs back into the darkness beyond the front door.

"No...NO! DAD!" She rushes over to her father. His belly bleeds. With every breath, he pumps out a little more.

"I-I got- I got him." He cries, a big smile on his face masking his pain and reflecting what he thought was the ultimate success. "You girls are safe." He choked out as Ochako holds his cheek and her tears fall on his chest. "My girls are...are..." he has no more breath to finish. Ochako's eyes widen. Her heart feels like the slightest touch would burst it into a billion pieces. She feels lightheaded from the emotion. This is too real. She is too anchored. She is too trapped. The grip on her father's shirt tightens. Blood broke through the fabric and gushes between her fingers. A frustration, a heavy rage, weighs on her. Something breaks within the house and, like that is a starting pistol, she bolts into the door. She does not hear the cries from Momo or Yu. She is deaf to the approaching sirens or screams of horror from neighbors. She, too, is swallowed by the darkness of what was home.

The old man turns to face her at the foot of the stairs. Aside the fact that the gun just helplessly clicks, it also bends upward in his hand, the metal curving into itself. This happens so quickly that the flesh between his thumb and index finger tears like paper. The gun embeds into his hand, almost as far in as his wrist, and there was little to do then but whine in agony and flee up the stairs.

Ochako's manic sprint does not give her time to see how she warps her environment. Reacting to the pinkish glow of her hands, the wood floor escapes its nails and curves upward like a valley threatening to grow and surround her. Tables, chairs, and other furniture have the sides closest to her break, bend, and crease upward before violently dislodging from gravity and shooting through the subsequent stories of the house, then out the roof.

The old man is paranoid, dodging the artillery which comes from below, the second floor ripping apart right under his feet. He wants a place to hide, but any hole he can burrow himself into literally goes right into the sky. All there is for him is the window, the moonlight spilling through. It is unnaturally calming among the storm. He stops by it.

Ochako gets upstairs. Tranquility is the last thing in mind. The steps behind her tear out and float. She keeps running, locked onto the cold-blooded murderer, the downtrodden neighbor, the daily friend. She sends them straight through the window. He is a few bits of flesh away from decapitation with the way they hit the ground. He does not move like Ochako wants him to. Does not fight back like she wants him to. Does not explain, does not cry, does not plead, does not whimper, does not suffer under her thousand-ton despair. He does not so much as whisper to her.

The ground leaves her, it leaves all of them. Sight and sound are absent. The uprooting of her whole house is a silent phenomenon happening behind her, inconsequential compared to the past few minutes. Her head is in the clouds. Her hands are around her mother and father. She is nestled between them again. It has been years since they last slept together like this, but Ochako deserves it. Tonight was a night of delights. She is finally free from the weight, from the stress. She is above it all, a queen among clouds. Within the ascendant embrace, she rests with them.

"I'm bringing her down." Yu announced, Momo, first responders, and neighbors in one hand. The other giant palm curls around Ochako and her family.


	6. five

"Would it be alright for us to see her yet?" Asks a classmate, flanked by a few concerned others. They stand in the hallway before Yu Takeyama's apartment, all of them holding one purchase or another. The bags are full of entertainment and medicines. Some are for Yu. Less are for Momo. Most are for Ochako. It has been a month since the latter's home was literally uprooted in a single night. Her classmates have not seen her since she left the club, except for Momo, who has been helping Yu take care of her.

"No. Not yet, unfortunately." She answers, turning her back on them to open the door.

They enter into a large, empty living room. They put the bags around the island which separates the kitchen from the rest of the space, and around the spiral staircase leading up two stories.

"It's been a month..." Mutters Izuku by Momo. "Is she really recovering?"

Something about Izuku's hint of doubt really pisses off Momo. She keeps her composure, however. "Yes. She's coming along well. Better than expected, actually. But the trauma is hard to shake off." She answers after a few moments.

"Oh, alright." His shoulders relax. She is glad that at least he believes her when she speaks, even if his doubts get the better of him. "Let her know that if she needs anything, I can help. Especially when it comes to catching up in class." He offers.

"My father sends his regards as well," Shoto Todoroki joins the conversation. Momo doubts his father's regards are for Ochako, and believes them to be more of his presence looming between Shoto and herself, trying to pair them like always. "Are you holding up alright though?"

"It's been rough...but, we're all doing the best we can." She admits to Shoto, leaving Izuku confused. She painted a brighter picture to him just now. "Thank you for the concern, at any rate. It would be best if you all were on your way now."

She shepherds the students out of the apartment as Yu makes her way down the staircase in pajamas. She is carrying a blanketed Ochako, the girl's arms wrapped around her neck and her face buried in it as well. Izuku catches a glance of this just as the door slides closed.

Yu reaches the bottom of the stairs. As Momo begins to organize the shopping haul, she notices Yu's grip around Ochako. "Is she still threatening to fly away like a balloon?" She smiles.

"Yeah! It's the craziest shit!" Exclaims the hero, putting Ochako down on a couch, then tucking her into several layers of heavy blankets.

"Jeez. I used to pass out if I used my quirk too much. Now I can't even turn it off." She sniffled, before sneezing into a tissue she had under the blanket. "It takes me being wrapped like a burrito just to stay on the planet." She muttered miserably.

"At least you improved from weeks ago." Yu sighs. "We had to hold you and anything that wasn't bolted to the floor down in any given room."

"I still have the sounds of suction cups haunting me at night from how many I had to make just keep everyone on the floor." Momo allows herself a giggle, a rare bit of humor lately.

"Yeah..." Ochako musters out a laugh from a sore diaphragm. She goes silent for a moment. She fights back sudden tears. "Aw fuck..." she wipes them away with her sleeves as she laughs a little.

"Remembering again?" Yu asks with a sad smile, stroking Ochako's head.

"Y-Yeah..." Ochako chokes out. The tears do not stop flowing. "It's hard. Really hard."

"I know. I know." She keeps comforting Ochako.

"What's this..." Momo asks under her breath, a piece of mail for Ochako under her hands. In big, red lettering it says _NOTICE OF DISMISSAL. _It is from UA. "Uh, Yu! Come here!"

"What is it?" She asks, starting to get up. She puts a kiss on Ochako's forehead, the girl's blush of embarrassment concealed only by her blush of illness. "What happened?" Yu meets Momo by the island.

"Dismissal?" Momo whispers, showing the letter to Yu.

"The fuck?" Yu tears into it. "We told'em she'd be back soon! That rat of a principal even saw her!" She ravenously unfolds the letter and eats up the words. The surprise on her face is apparent.

"Sh-she...she dropped out?" Momo asks incredulously.

_"We write to confirm the request for dismissal from Ochako Uraraka, as formulated with good counsel from faculty at UA." _Goes a section of the letter, aside a variety of nice phrases for her recovery and her future.

"Good counsel from faculty? Other teachers helped her leave?" Momo asks, but Yu, fuming out of her ears, has already made her way toward Ochako. "Yu! Wait! Maybe it's a mistake!" She chases after the angry woman, but her attempts to halt her advance are futile.

Yu pushes the paper onto the burrito, and Ochako winces despite the cushioning. She knows what Yu's upset about. "Tell me, right now, what the hell they mean by _confirm request for dismissal with good counsel."_

"It means I met with a bunch of teachers in a room, and we agreed to have me kicked out." Ochako bit back through her sick voice.

"Aye, you've been gettin' a mouth to ya this whole month. Did your manners fly into the sky too? Just cause you're sick don't mean you can just talk like that." Yu interrogated.

"Yu!" Momo gasps at the audacity.

"What're you gonna do? Kill me? I ain't got nothin' to live for anymore anyway. So, do it. Or is the only thing big about you your quirk?" Ochako does not miss a beat.

"Ochako!" Momo is stunned at this brash response. Where did this manner of speech come from?

"Somethin' must really have you pissed." Yu retreats from the superficial confrontation and goes right for the heart of it. She understands Ochako is frustrated, if not by the content of her words then by how she says them. "The hood's comin' out of ya."

Momo is confused by what Yu means, but she does not think about it too hard. She is still afraid of Ochako's retaliation.

"Yeah, I am pissed. And that's why I left school." Ochako answers, shifting in her burrito to face away from them. Now they had to talk to her brown hair. "I'm gonna do something about my situation without UA's help."

"Do something? Do what? The only way you can be a hero is through UA!" Momo protests. "Ochako, I understand that we're still too young to do official work, but there's hardly any other way."

"No, there is. And she ain't completely sever from the school either." Yu deduces, much to Momo's surprise. "You're still workin' with them, right? Just not as a student."

Ochako does not directly respond. She just gives a groan, and continues with what she began, "I'm going to do my own hero work. UA takes too long, and I need to do something now."

"You don't mean...You're going forward with your idea?" Momo asks tentatively. "The one you mentioned in the hospital? About helping your neighborhood?"

Ochako gave a groan of confirmation.

"I can't believe the school's actually letting you do this. Not now at least. You can barely move on your own, let alone keep yourself from blasting off." Yu complains, pacing. "Of all the irresponsible shit the school's done, this is actually the worst."

As Yu keeps complaining, and Momo struggles processing, Ochako slips an arm out and flips the document on her burrito over. Yu notices and reads what she missed.

"Oh fuck no."

"Something else now?" Momo groans, sick of the whirlwind of changes. Rich girls are too accustomed to stability for this kind of emotional and material tempest.

Ochako takes the document with both hands and reads it, holding it over her head, "Miss Yu Takeyama, professionally known as Mt. (Mount) Lady, will oversee Ochako Uraraka's progress outside of conventional quirk-oriented education."

"I need a seat." Momo collapses into the beanbags behind her.

Yu sits on the glass table across from Ochako, "They know I didn't adopt you, right...?"

Ochako's eyes shift towards and away from Yu, "Yeah..."

"And that I'm only taking care of you until you get better and become a ward of the state, right...?"

"Yeah..."

"So, why the hell would they assign me as your mom?"

"I mean, you wouldn't be my mom...more like, my host and mentor." Ochako reasons. She knows she's weaseling her way around the truth of the matter, around the fact that she has become attached to Yu's existence over the course of this past month now that she lost any other person who could keep her level with the Earth, and any person who can relate with her on such an intimate scale. She was carried away by dreams of union to this giant woman, this true, shining, inspiring mountain of a lady.

Momo takes the paper away from Ochako, and reads it in full. She creates a space for herself to breathe and concentrate amidst the tension in the room, amidst the turbulence. Once finished, she folds it back up and puts it on the table beside Yu.

"This is a problem which can be figured out later, I am sure. Though Ochako's dismissal is immediate, her possible future as her apprentice will only be in effect and up for debate when Ochako demonstrates a full recovery. Otherwise, things will be as they are now." Momo establishes to little response. Yu looks up at Momo with exhausted, annoyed eyes, expecting some self-evident point to emerge. Ochako hides behind her bulb of brown hair and burrito. "So, let's just focus on getting Ochako back on her feet, and those feet on the ground for now." Momo concludes.

"I'll make dinner. You two freshen up." She gets to work in the kitchen, turning her back on the intimacy which now feels forced and awkward where she once felt love and warmth.

Momo feels inspired to rebuild the bridge between them, but is afraid that perhaps her position in all this may just create a larger divide.


	7. five(pt 2)

Ochako sits in the broad, round, giant cereal bowl of a bathtub Yu carried her to. She is nude and submerged up to her chest. Her hair, usually a smooth bulb, is now damp and wet - she calls it her "wet dog" look. For a week, Ochako had been tended by nurses when it came to basic hygiene, but because Ochako never really had experience with being so intimate with medical personnel, this quickly fell out of fashion. The girl was too shy to be so exposed to Momo, despite Momo's insistence that she is quite accustomed to taking care of the sick so closely, so the responsibility of bathing Ochako fell on Yu. It was primarily Yu who needed to warm up to washing Ochako, but she eventually became comfortable and even began bathing with her for efficiency's sake once Ochako stayed at her home. And so, this is the situation they are in.

Ochako enjoys the way Yu scrubs down to her scalp. The woman's hands are rough, untrained in taking care of others besides herself. They are used to violence. The scrubbing begins painfully, but gradually softens into gentleness. The softening happens much sooner nowadays. About two weeks ago, Yu would have left Ochako's head aching, but now...now it is bearable, like-able, lovable. It is difficult to be really comfortable, though, considering what just transpired with the letter of dismissal. Usually they would be laughing, gossiping, and the like, but now there hangs a silence between them. The big tub makes it feel like she's stranded in an island oasis with Yu, but instead of having her near, there are oceans of separation. Ochako keeps quiet, respecting Yu's feelings, not wanting to set her off again. She tries not to think of what may happen to her if Yu declines to train her, but the thoughts are invasive, and threaten to steal her peace of mind, a peace she has very little of already.

Yu turns Ochako around in the tub, careful to keep the girl from floating away in her 180. She pulls Ochako between her legs to help with grounding her, then begins scrubbing her back.

"Remind me about your plan again." Yu mutters as she works.

"My plan? I'm getting dismiss-"

"I know, I know, I mean the whole neighborhood hero thing. Tell me about that." She clarifies, sounding bothered just by Ochako's incorrect guess at what she meant.

"O-oh, okay. Well, like I said before, UA is going to take too long, but it isn't just that..." she sighs, and looks down at her hands in the water. Yu's legs are beside hers. She gets the urge to touch them for more security, but she's just a few centimeters too high from the altitude necessary to ground herself in such a comfort. She's too scared. "...UA doesn't save the people I want to. And not in the ways I want to."

"Tell me more." Yu scrubs Ochako's lower back, and her sides.

"I realized that we would graduate to institutions that have nothing to do with most people. We get this top tier education to serve the type of people Momo comes from. Otherwise villains in neighborhoods like mine just get treated as second and third priorities. And by villains, I don't just mean monsters..." Ochako pauses, hoping Yu understands what she meant.

Yu certainly does. But, she wants to hear it too. "Not just monsters?"

"W-Well, y'know...the people who made neighborhoods like that so terrible."

"Mmm."

"Yeah. I want them to go down too. Even though he killed my parents...I understand why he did it. To everyone else, he was just some psycho on drugs with a gun. But, I know the truth. He was a person with reasons...and he didn't have enough to stop him from doing what he did." Tears drip from her cheeks into the water. She plays it off as if water got in her eyes.

"You sayin' someone else made him do it? That it's not his fault at all?" Yu interrogates. She wants to tease it all out.

"No, no! He is responsible. But...not completely. He could've done other things...but, not many. His best alternative was probably just hitting a different house. He had choices, but all of them were bad. He was put in that position against his will and unless he did something about it..." Ochako let out a breath. "It was him or someone else. That's it. Someone was dying that night, and he didn't want it to be him. He'd rather leave a bullet in somebody because that can be taken out and patched up...but, starving was hard to bounce back from once you're far enough in it."

"I see. So you're gonna help the hobos?" Yu asks, getting the sides of Ochako's thighs.

"Are you trying to piss me off?" Ochako snaps, gripping Yu's hands. "I know you know better than that."

"Oh no, no, no." Yu pauses a moment. Ochako's hands slack a bit. Yu slips a hand away from her grip and tickles her side, making Ochako explode in sudden laughter. "I just want to understand you better. 'Giving back to the hood' was never my thing. Once I made it, I got out and left it behind." Yu admits, reclining in the tub and letting her legs hold down Ochako.

"Well, I'm definitely giving you a chance to see how it works..."

"And, I won't take advantage of it."

Ochako lets out a frustrated huff, and reclines into Yu defiantly. Yu is over the tension from earlier, but Ochako's recline is a direct rejection of it, the girl no longer caring of what sort of personal distance Yu wants to keep just because things might be awkward. Yu looks down at the girl, at the brown mop just under her chest. She smiles at how adorable she is.

"Gonna change your hero name for it?" Yu asks, curious, having a vague recollection of some name change related to the subject.

"Yeah, actually. I told you and Momo. It fits how I got to this point. How everything fell apart so fast, and how quick I fell into this idea."

"What is it?"

"Terminal Velocity. I remembered it from Physics. It's the maximum velocity an object can reach in free fall, the point when it can't go any faster."

"Didn't realize you had an edge to you like that." Yu thinks about the name a bit, then sits up. "Well, Terminal Velocity, don't burn yourself up approaching those goals of yours. Let's get out of here. I smell Momo's cooking and I'm too damn hungry."


End file.
